Rufus
Rufus, "the American Dan", nicknamed by Yoshinori Ono, is a comical character featured in Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV. Story and Appearance Rufus is a motorcycle repair shop mechanic. Using a self-taught fighting style from watching martial arts films and putting his own spin on the attacks, he believes he is handsome and America's best martial artist. Rufus takes himself very seriously in this regard, to the point of referring to himself as "Lord Rufus" and regarding rude people as beneath him. Capcom describes the character as having a hasty personality, prone to jumping to conclusions to achieve a goal and sacrificing accuracy for speed. Rufus tends to speak in a long-winded manner, demonstrated through considerably long victory quotes at the end of fights. His girlfriend, Candy, accompanies him as a result of him protecting her from an angry waiter she attempted to bilk and paying the bill. Introduced in the 2008 video game Street Fighter IV, Rufus is angered that martial artist Ken Masters is declared the best fighter in America. Per Candy's suggestion that he find and defeat Ken to prove himself as the best, he declares Ken as his rival and sets out to find him. However, along the way he repeatedly mistakes other fighters for Ken, attacking similarly dressed or blonde people regardless of gender, and blames the mistaken identities on his belief Ken is using decoys to delay him, notably, the character Abel. He eventually confronts Ken, who states he does not know who Rufus is, which angers him further before they fight. In the game's conclusion, Rufus is shown pushing his broken down motorcycle uphill with Candy on board, using it as training and blaming Ken for the predicament. Rufus is depicted as a large, heavily obese blond male. His head is mostly bald, with a long braided ponytail jutting from the top, and a mustache extending down the sides of his mouth to his chin. His clothing consists of a yellow and black sleeveless jumpsuit with padded shoulders, with the closing straps left open due to his girth and exposing the center of his torso and lower abdominal hair. Black shoes cover his feet, while black fingerless gloves cover his hands and most of his forearms. His secondary outfit is similar, changing the jumpsuit to a dark blue and green version with sleeves and a raised collar, additionally removing the gloves and changing his hairstyle to a double ponytail. Other alternate designs were considered but rejected, amongst which included an Elvis impersonator appearance and martial artist attire. For Super Street Fighter IV, a third outfit intended to resemble the Chinese Jiang Shi was included, consisting of a long Chinese robe, black hat with his ponytail extruding from the top, yellow and black striped pants, and a yellow strip of paper meant to represent a sealing charm extending from the front of the hat and over his face. The developers considered to have the charm able to be knocked off by an opponent's attacks, and as a result alter his attack patterns and power; however, they felt this overcomplicated the character, and instead abandoned the idea. Assistant producer Natsuki Shiozawa cited the outfit as one of her five favorites in the game, feeling that design suited his body well. Gameplay Rufus was purposefully made faster than his outward appearance would indicate and given the ability to string his attacks together more readily, in order to "defy expectations based on what he looks like", and to contrast against other large characters in fighting games. During development of his attacks, the developers devised several options for his fighting style, considering different ways to combine it with his appearance. After considering his design, they decided to allow his movements to be quick and strengthened by the inertia of his body fat, accompanied by martial artist yells and shouts. Rufus's gameplay has been compared to the fighting styles used by Street Fighter III characters Yun & Yang by the development team, notably in regards to his diving kick attack, and emphasized mobility while attacking. Other attacks were designed as a means to negate enemy offensives, such as the Galactic Tornado, which destroys enemy projectiles while drawing the opponent closer to Rufus for a final strike. His ultimate attack, Space Opera Symphony, is a barrage of attacks that requires close proximity to the opponent, dealing several blows and ending in a final upwards blast. Gallery Image:SFIVRufus2.png|''Street Fighter IV'' Image:SFIVRufus3.png|''Street Fighter IV'' Image:Rufus.png|''Street Fighter IV'' Image:SFIVRufusAltCostume.png|''Street Fighter IV'' Alternate Costume Image:SSFIVRufus.png|''Super Street Fighter IV'' Category:Street Fighter Characters Category:Characters